


Redheads under black umbrellas

by well_well_well



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-22
Updated: 2021-02-22
Packaged: 2021-03-12 15:35:57
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,355
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29636820
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/well_well_well/pseuds/well_well_well
Summary: I saw a prompt on pinterst and couldn't resist:'Nat's funeral but it's from her perspective as she watches it from under a black umbrella'Natasha deserved better. And I've tried to give her that
Relationships: Clint Barton & Natasha Romanov, James "Bucky" Barnes & Natasha Romanov
Comments: 4
Kudos: 14





	Redheads under black umbrellas

The coffin was empty. There was no body for the woman who had sacrificed her life for the world. Even Tony had come back from the dead, but Nat, Natasha was the reason they were all here today.

‘I’d like to end by saying a few things’ Tony says softly, his voice cracking with emotion as he takes up his place at the front of the small crowd gathered by the lakeside.

The sun was setting over the horizon, reds and golds the colour of Natasha’s hair setting fire to the sky in the background as Clint, Bruce and Steve follow Tony up to the small podium and look out at the gathered people.

Nat would have wanted it small and the heroes tried their hardest but after all she’d done the Guardian of the Galaxy and several Asgardians had joined the SHIELD agents sitting in rows at the front. Bobbi Morse, Melina May and Maria Hill were not hiding the tears streaming down their cheeks as Hunter and Fitz bit their lips and blinked furiously. Both Fury and Colson were standing off to the side, Coulson may have lost a friend and a colleague, but Fury had lost a daughter.

‘Natasha Romanoff. Where to start’ Tony began and Bruce took over, each of them taking turns to pay homage to their fallen comrade

‘she was one of the most incredible people I’ve ever met’ 

‘Most people saw her as the Black Widow’ Clint sniffs, trying to stay strong ‘but she was just Nat, she was the woman who battled aliens and robots along side gods and super soldiers and always returned home with a smirk and more than often an unnecessary gunshot wound’

‘She held them team together’ Starts Steve ‘She was the one that started the Avengers, the one that showed us who to be, who to aspire to be. If any of us ever become even half the person Natasha was then the world will be a better place’

‘Your first family is you blood family, the ones Natasha was ripped from. Then there is another type of family. The ones that care for you, and love you, and protect you. Through the good times, the bad, the awkward and the funny. Not because we have too. But because we choose to. We love you Natasha. And we will remember you. It is my deepest regret I wasn’t able to save you from the dangerous times’  
Clint finishes and there is silence as they all walk back to their seats and sit in silence, each and every person thinking of a memory with the woman. How an unlabeled vase of flowers would appear by their bedside when they were ill, or a cup of perfect coffee when they needed it. A smirk that light up the room a bit, or an eye roll that made you laugh.

The rain starts, drizzling down like a wet blanket, flowing with the tears down everyone assembled face’s.  
It was as if the sky were mourning Natasha Romanoff.

In the distance a lone figure stands back, dressed all in black. She moves softly, pulling an umbrella out from her bag and opening it quickly and quietly. She looks up to the sky and allows the rain to cleanse her face, water washing away the last feel of the prosthetic veils from her sharp features and cleaning the dark mascara smudges from under her piercing emerald eyes.  
I have my place in the world

Natasha Romanoff’s eyes rake across the people there to remember her and engrains them all in her memory, flashes of her life coming back as she studies their faces.

Steve, the missions spent in the dark, joking around. Maybe now she was gone he’d finally get out there and find himself a date. She hoped so. She hoped he’d find someone to love.

Sam, she had loved to watch him fly. The way he seemed to tease gravity, play with the laws of physics in a breath taking display of beauty, even if it was while shooting wildly at people. She hoped he’d carry on flying. 

Buckey, vague memories of the Red Room. The tall, soft soldier with a metal arm who taught them to snap necks and make paper canes, taught them to snipe silently and rest their feet after painful ballet training

Bruce, the man she’d thought she’d loved. The man who vanished, who had a secret. Not so secret anymore Nat thinks, looking at the huge reinforced chair he’s sitting on at the back. She hopes he realises his self worth. Be proud of himself, and everything he’s done

Lila, Cooper and Laura Barton. The first trip to the farm. Then the second and third and fourth. Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter all spent around the family. She hopes Laura will keep Clint in line. She hopes Lila, Cooper and Nate will remember her. Still see her smiling and clapping in the background as they do a cartwheel, or chasing after them as they race to the house. She hopes they wont remember this. Remember the funeral, the tears. 

Melina, Bobbi, Maria. All woman she had been proud of, aspired to be like. The only worthy spar opponents. She hoped Bobbi would carry on fighting for what she believed in. She hoped Melina would carry on working with Coulson, not go back to staplers and dusty old files. She hoped Maria would….. no, Nat smiles softly. Maria Hill was prepared, Maria Hill could face anything. Maria Hill didn’t need hope.

Finally she looks to Tony. Tony Stark. The narcissistic, stupid, pig-headed billionaire she had loved like a brother. The one that had almost followed in her footsteps. Almost died. The one that had changed so much, loved so little than lost one of his biggest loves.  
Wanda and Peter are next. The children. The children brought into the unfair, stupid, deadly, messy, necessary fight. The children whose families had been killed in front of them and chose to fight for a cause. She hoped Wanda would carry on in her footsteps, carry on learning to switch her accent on and off, carry on training to take down shadows and nightmares. She hoped Peter would grow up. Just grow up. Make it into adult hood, make it into college. The boy had nearly died so many times she hoped he’d live.

Clint. Her Clint, her baby hawk. The man who had given her purpose, given her life, a family, a cause, a will to love each day and fight every battle. He stands with his family now. Looking up into the hastily darkening sky, clutching the necklace she had slipped to him so tightly she thought he might choke himself. Back on Vormir she had slipped it off when fighting. As she fell she heard his screams. He must have woken up with the soul stone in one hand. The arrow necklace in his other.  
Her life for a pendent.

Natasha didn’t believe in God. But at this moment she wanted to. Wanted to thank someone, anyone who could in turn thank the people mourning and remembering her this evening. The service was beautiful. Wanda had read a Russian poem then set the red jacket on fire in front of them, apparently a Sokovian tradition. Coulson had spoken, Tony and Steve had spoken.  
After the silence they all moved forward. Each person leaning under their chair to get something, then walking down to the lakeside a series of lights began to appear in everyone’s hands. Candles.

Floating candles.

Bobbi was first. She set two candles into the water and spoke softly

‘My sister and I were dusted. We are alive because of you Nat’ and sets them afloat into the darkness.

Then Fury ‘Natasha. You were a pain in the ass. I cant lie. But you were my pain in the ass. A sassy, loving, kind, nerdy redhead with no need for extraction plans and a strange God complex. I was dusted. As was 2 of my greatest friends. Thank you’ and he sets three candles into the water.

Then they all start speaking. 

Peter lays four out, for him, his two best friends and Aunt, whispering ‘до свидания мама паук’

Each Barton kid sets their’s off, Laura, pushing Nate’s away as he nearly extinueshes it with his tears,

Tony set one out for Peter, smiling softly across at the boy as he does.

Bruce lights three for Okoeye, Shuri and T’Challa, murmuring about them all sending thanks to the hero and best wishes from Wakanda.

Quill sets one out for himself and the other members of the team that were dusted and Thor is limited to 11, telling the group it represents the 110 Asgardians that had come back to life because of Natasha.

After half an hour of candles bobbing across the lake they stop. The water looks to be on fire. There must be over 100 candles floating on it’s inky surface. every flame flickering with strength, each light representing a person living because of her.

‘You saved the world Natalia Alianova Romanova’ Stark announces

‘Rest in peace, love and power knowing you brought them all back. You brought the world back together. Thank you’

Natasha looks away, unable to cope with all the feelings rushing around her. She’d saved them. But not really, she had been a part, a tiny part in a huge machine, a huge team that defeated a demon. 

Suddenly she feels a pair of eyes on her.

Clint.

His eyes meet hers and in a moment his face is awash with emotions. She was well hidden, no one else had seen her standing in the rain, dressed in black with a black umbrella. But Clint wasn’t Hawkeye for nothing.

In a second she nods. A single nod. Up. Down. 

Clint mirrors the gesture, his eyes clouding over with something they haven’t seen for a while-hope.

Then with a small flick of red hair Natasha Romanoff does what she does best.

She vanishes.

*** I couldn't get this out of my head so I decided to add it as an extra part***

The door rings shrilly and Wanda sighs from her comfortable place on the sofa, she gets up though and pads through to the front door, opening it and preparing for either some press, an Avenger returning home or another card from a well wishing fan.

She gets none of them. On the doorstep is a parcel, wrapped in brown paper and tied up with a red ribbon, unnamed and unlabeled. Wanda knows that she should probably call SHIELD or someone else to open it, but something stops her and instead she sits down on the doormat and carefully unwraps the parcel.

Inside is a red leather jacket.

A perfect replica of the one she burned a month ago at her friend, mentor and sister's funeral. She looks it over sadly, its perfect, exactly the same as the one she had been given by Pietro from Natasha all those years ago.  
As she unfolds it a small slip of paper falls out, fluttering to the ground and lying face up, showing the only indication of whoever left this mysterious, and yet so personal gift.

A scribbled hourglass looks up at her, scrawled in red biro and outlined a few times in the messy, rushed style that Wanda recognizes from SHIELD training. It's always added with a quick, practiced squiggle, following the name on mission reports and training status.  
Natasha Romanoff.

Wanda leaps up, eyes trained on the horizon, looking out for someone, anyone that could give her some answers.  
Then she spots her, a small figure, dressed all in black, red hair glinting in the summer sun, walking away, back to her down the track.

'STOP!' Wanda yells, but the person either doesn't hear her or doesn't want to hear her, carrying on striding down the farm track.

Wanda reaches out in the only way she knows how, creating a telepathic link with the woman's mind, which is blank, as if she knew Wanda would do that, and wanted her thoughts to be kept private

'Dont leave' Wanda begs internally and the person's steps falter, then she hears it, a voice she had sworn never to forget, low and husky, slight Russian accent biting on the edge of her words

'I have to, dont forget me'

'I will never' Wanda sobs, sinking down the edge of the door

'I am so proud of you, моя волшебная девочка' Natasha says

'I love you, please stay' Wanda calls 'you need to stay, we need you, we miss you, we love you'

'I miss you to, all of you' Natasha smiles softly 'but the world is a big place and I am needed no longer, you will do well Wanda'

'please...'

'Pietro is proud, your parent's love you' Natasha answers weakly, sunlight glinting off the fading figure 'carry on fighting for what you believe in. They say pick your battles, you can pick them all, you dont have to win them all, but as long as you come out with your soul intact and your chin in the air you will live to fight another day, I love you моя волшебная девочка'

'I love you Natasha, please stay, come back to me, come back' Wanda begs, starting to scream out loud now, not stopping the tears running down her cheeks 

'I promise I wont complain about not using my powers in training,   
I promise ill wake up stupidly early to watch the sunrise like you tried to make me do that time,   
I promise ill cook you paprikash in Sundays and come to all your stupid spy sessions and meetings.   
I promise ill listen at work, and not mess around with Peter, I promise... I promise'

But it's gone.

The figure has stepped off the horizon, stepped off the edge of the world and the string is severed, leaving Wanda broken on the doormat, sobs racking through her body as she screams to the sun

'I promise you... Natasha, just come back... I need you... we all need you'


End file.
